A Post-Wilsonian Foreign Policy

By

Irving Kristol

Updated Aug. 2, 1996 12:01 a.m. ET

Everyone from American scholars to foreign statesmen finds American foreign policy very puzzling. And so the basic tenor of all commentaries on this policy, at any time and from any source, tends to be critical. When was the last time you read an enthusiastic endorsement of American foreign policy? I have no such recollection.

The truth is that American foreign policy is necessarily always perplexing. This has nothing to do with the inadequacies of our presidents or State Departments. Such inadequacies surely exist but...